The Downtrodden Villain In A Redemption Romance Novel Chapter 27

Chapter 27 The action begins

The dark alley wakes up in the sinking sunset, and the steaming heat is mixed with various smells, fermenting in the narrow alley.

The two figures merged into the increasingly noisy and sticky flow of people, completely different from the first time they rushed in hastily.

Xu Wen and Lu Qingrang both wore simple disguises. They both wore dark-colored ordinary T-shirts, which looked a bit old and even had some inconspicuous stains on them.

Xu Wen wore a cheap black peaked cap with a very low brim on his head, while Lu Qingrang wore a dark gray mask of the same style, which completely covered the lower half of his overly prominent face, leaving only a pair of calm eyes exposed. The broken hair on his forehead was deliberately messed up, weakening the handsomeness that was incompatible with the surroundings.

They deliberately imitated the gaits of the people around them, with a bit of the carelessness that is unique to this place, indifference to the heat and environment, and tried hard to turn themselves into two blurry pixels on this gray background.

Xu Wen turned his head, adjusted the brim of his hat, and lowered his voice to the people next to him: “Follow me closely, but also keep an eye on the road. If you feel something is wrong, just touch me.”

Lu Qingrang said “hmm” in a muffled voice through the mask, and scanned the surrounding environment.

Xu Wen led Lu Qingrang towards the destination marked by the system. He walked steadily, and his figure was quickly engulfed by the increasingly dense night heat and strange neon lights in the dark alley.

They turned into a narrower alley with graffiti on the walls on both sides, and stopped in front of an iron door with no sign and only a faint light.This is more like an abandoned warehouse entrance than a store.

Xu Wen took a deep breath and knocked on the door.There was a rustling sound inside, and then a small window on the door was opened, and a pair of vigilant eyes looked at them in the darkness for a few seconds.

“Who are you looking for?” a hoarse voice asked.

“Brother Cat introduced me to do some communication business.” Xu Wen lowered his voice and said the connection code provided by the system.

There was silence for a moment, and then there was the sound of the chains being taken off.The door creaked open a crack, allowing only one person to pass sideways.

The interior is slightly larger than it looks from the outside, but equally dark and cluttered.Various half-disassembled communication equipment, circuit boards and cables were piled everywhere, and the air was filled with a strange smell of metal and dust.

A thin, middle-aged man in a greasy vest was sitting behind the workbench, holding a soldering iron in his hand without raising his head.Next to him stood a powerful industrial fan, blowing hummingly at him, trying to dispel the sultry summer heat.

“Brother Cat? That old boy is still alive.” The man’s voice was still hoarse and a little teasing, but he did not stop working on his hands. “What do you want to do? Hurry up and tell me.”

“Two cards, two documents.” Xu Wenyan said concisely.

The man then put down the soldering iron and raised his eyelids. His sharp eyes glanced back and forth at Xu Wen and Lu Qingrang.His eyes stayed on Lu Qingrang longer. Although the other person was wearing a mask, his overly straight back and calm temperament were incompatible with the environment.

“You look so strange.” The man sneered, leaned back in his chair, and lit a cigarette. “You two don’t look like people wallowing in this quagmire. Tell me, what kind of trouble did you get into, and which god was chasing you?”

Xu Wen’s heart tightened, and he was about to make up a reason, but the man didn’t wait for him to answer. He continued to speak, with a certain determination and scrutiny in his tone: “Student? Or… have you offended the people above?” He pointed at the ceiling with a hint.

Xu Wen’s palms were sweating slightly, feeling that in front of this old world, their disguises were like transparent films.

At this moment, Lu Qingrang, who had been silent all the time, suddenly took a step forward. He looked past the man and landed on an old industrial control terminal on the workbench with a series of error codes flashing on the screen, seemingly unable to enter the system.

“Boss,” Lu Qingrang’s voice came through the mask. It was a little muffled but unusually calm. “This terminal of yours is not a hardware failure. The boot program has been tampered with malicious code and is stuck in the kernel verification stage.”

His tone of voice was very calm, but it instantly broke the stagnant atmosphere in the store.

The thin man’s fingers holding the cigarette paused. He sat up straight and stared at Lu Qingrang closely.”You…can understand this?”

This machine was stored here by one of his big customers and asked to be cracked. He tried many methods but failed to break through the damn encrypted boot layer.

Lu Qingrang did not answer, but continued to say in that calm tone: “The error code points to the boot verification failure. If you want to completely solve it, you must first access it from the external port and clean up the parasitic boot hidden at the bottom. Otherwise, it will be useless no matter how many times you refresh the system.”

The contempt and scrutiny on the man’s face completely disappeared, replaced by a dignified look as if he was meeting a peer or even a master.

He put out the cigarette, looked at Lu Qingrang again, and then looked at Xu Wen, who was nervous but clearly focused on Lu Qingrang.

“Tsk…” He smacked his lips, his eyes complicated, “I didn’t expect it, it’s really… hidden.” He pondered for a few seconds, as if weighing something, and finally waved his hand, “Okay, for the sake of your knowledge, I understand the rules, regardless of the origin. I can make things for you, the price will be according to the road, no discounts.”

He changed the topic, his eyes became sharp again, and he scanned the two people carefully: “I’ll pick up the things tomorrow morning. Grab the things and leave the dark alley immediately.” He paused, “I don’t accept customers here, and I don’t guarantee after-sales service. The wind has been tight recently and the water has been very muddy. Unknown faces like you, especially…” His eyes lingered on Lu Qingrang for a moment, “Especially the eye-catching unfamiliar faces. If you stay for a moment longer, there is an additional risk of being pinned to death. Do you understand?”

This was a rare piece of advice considering what Lu Qingrang showed just now.

Xu Wen’s heart trembled, knowing that what the other party said was the truth and it was also an ultimatum.He immediately responded: “Understood, we will pick it up tomorrow and leave as soon as we get it. We will never cause you any trouble.”

The man said no more, waved his hand like a fly, picked up the soldering iron again, and immersed himself in the pile of parts, as if they had never appeared.

Xu Wen and Lu Qingrang looked at each other and saw the same relief in each other’s eyes, as well as the growing sense of urgency after the clear warning.

Without any further pause, the two of them quickly turned around, sideways squeezed out of the iron door again, and plunged back into the dull night of the dark alley.